The invention relates generally to integrated circuits and semiconductor device fabrication and, in particular, to methods for fabricating a structure that includes a metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor and structures that include a MIM capacitor.
On-chip passive elements, such as MIM capacitors, are deployed in many types of integrated circuits, such as radiofrequency integrated circuits. A MIM capacitor may be integrated into one or more of the metallization levels of a back-end-of-line (BEOL) interconnect structure using materials that are commonly available in copper BEOL technologies. A two-electrode MIM capacitor includes top and bottom electrodes and a capacitor dielectric disposed between the top and bottom electrodes as an electrical insulator. The capacitance, or amount of charge held by the MIM capacitor per unit of applied voltage, depends among other factors on the area of the top and bottom electrodes, their separation, and the dielectric constant of the material constituting the capacitor dielectric.
Improved methods for fabricating a structure that includes a MIM capacitor and structures that include a MIM capacitor are needed.